I'd like to ask what you think makes your shotmaking consistency so high. do you key on certain things like release point in your swing/delivery? Is there a special fit or feel that allows you to eliminate release inconsistency?

just curious what you key on each pre-shot and delivery. do u area, line or target bowl?

Bowling in a challenge league on Monday nights. Unsanctioned but they've been putting down sport patterns including 1:1 Red Square last week. Tonight they put out something a little friendlier. The shot was Kegel Big Ben, a 7.33:1 recreation pattern. I ate it up with scores of 234, 246, 254, and 233 for 967. My best bowling all season.

Over the weekend I went to see my driller to pick up my Fanatic BTU Pearl and told him what I was looking for (basically something that will let me stay to the outside on house shots). He discouraged me from trying to play that line on a house shot and instead took me out to the lanes and helped me get some rotation so I could carry out the corners while playing 10. Used that tonight and worked out great. Carry percentage was very good and left only a couple of 7 pins on a few operator errors on my part.

Last game started to get a little tired and after a mid-game open I was at a <200 pace. Dug deep and found a late 4-bagger and 9 on the final ball to finish with the 233. Now I'll see if I can translate this success to my house shot league tomorrow night.

I would tend to agree with him. If I am practicing and shooting well with stronger equipment on inside lines I would use in league, I will switch to something weaker and try to play outside of the river of oil. I can find a line straight up 6 to get me to the pocket nicely, but I have almost no room for error unless I pull it 2 boards and catch the river where it holds line to the pocket. If I miss right, it labors coming back. If I get fast or slow, it is magnified by the low volume flat oil outside of 8. I like it for practice because it ends up playing like a flat pattern.

But, at my slower speed now, an outside line is even more disturbed by lack of speed. Medium and heavier balls overreact or react too early. My pearl gets the length, but iffy on the hit. It has to be perfect, or high rotation light hit for a splash.

That is why I have been playing around with a Urethane. I can stay outside longer with it. But, when I see too much forward roll coming off, I have to switch. Then it's graze the head pin and hit the 3 full, for a solid 10 pin every shot.

Week 1. Had the first 9 strikes in G1 using my new Code Red. I tugged the 10th shot a little and left a 10 pin. Converted the spare and got the last one for 279. The Code Red started leaving 10 pins so I changed in the middle of G2. Finished up with a 218 and 223 for 706.

Week 2. Last Thursday. G1. I started with my Mission X in practice and started hitting the pocket and striking. Ended up with 218 after missing 2 10 pin spares. G2 and G3 were clean for 237, 248 and 699. I could not get a string longer than 5 in a row but I did something I've never done. I put every shot in the pocket. No misses to the right and no shots through the nose for splits. Left 10 single pin spares. Not all shots were my best but when they hit the pins, I thought they all had a good chance of striking.

Mark & Dennis - same kind of deal with me when I'm trying to play the outside. Did end up getting the BTU Pearl anyway and tried it for a few games of practice playing the outside line, but only slightly better than throwing reactive out there. Only real difference is that a high hit will be a 6 pin more often than a split since the ball doesn't go crazy off the dry. But I figured since it was practice I'd see if I could find a way to make this work playing up 5. Tried changing hand positions, looking further down the lane/lofting, breaking my wrist back, more speed, moving 1&1 right, and wasn't consistent enough with any of those changes so the ball went back in my bag. I think it will be great for shorter patterns and breakdown on house shots but not going to be the first ball out of my bag in league.

Did manage to follow up my strong set on Monday with 257, 216, and 246 for 719 last night. I was planning on using my Arson High Flare while playing 10 but just too much oil there and it ended up skidding too much (and bone dry outside of 10 in this house so moving even 1 & 1 left isn't an option). Had my earlier rolling Brute Strength and went with that which gave me a good reaction when I got around it.

Did well last nite, 696. Won the first 2 games, H2H. But, lost the last game and series when my opponent shot 288 for 746.

Teanwise, we only won 1 game. But still have a 20 point lead with 2 weeks left.

I noticed that I had trouble in my first game, till I looked up at the CATS MPH. I was almost 2 MPH slower then normal. And, I don't know why. I made an adjustment. Picked up speed and finished with the last 4. Next 2 games were consistent and maintained my speed.

I didn't notice my slow speed. Only that the ball over reacted. I wrongly thought of lane condition and moved more inside, only to find more back end. With more speed, I got more length and a more controllable pocket hit.

My opponent, on the other hand, was rolling straight up 5 from the left side. He got too much slide in the first 2 games. And, I swear I noticed him slow down for his 288.

Speed was the variable for both of us that had to be controlled. But, in different ways.

it was a good night. The other team had the Father of a former Junior bowler I once taught, and the kid, who bowls with his Dad in Summer, now home from college. Good to see them both.

I've noticed that speed tends to have a big impact on how my balls read the lanes and the resulting reaction.

Since I took bowling back up in 2011, I've been trying to increase the ball speed because I thought it was too slow (under 13 mph).

Now that I have a better arm swing I can get the speed up to 14.9 or so. There are times where I find this extra speed makes the ball skid too far. Now, I slow the speed down to mid 13's and find the reaction and carry is much better.

Ever since coming back to this sport I've worked on slowing myself down. It sounds like I'm very fortunate that way. Lately I've taken time to sand some of my shiny pearl balls and take them to probably 3000 or 4000 grit which really makes a big difference.The Storm Sky Rocket at 3000 grit is just about right now for the house shot that I typically bowl on. It used to skid way too far down the alley. Now I'm standing on board 30 and tossing it at board 10 at the arrows. Makes a nice turn to the left when it hits the dry boards around 40 feet or so.

Rather than begging for donations we're asking you to do one simple thing to help keep these forums running smooth:
When shopping for anything on Amazon.com or eBay please use these links to go to the web sites.

This won't cost you a cent!

You'll still get the exact same low prices, deals and free or low cost shipping; it doesn't change anything for you at all! The items do not have to be bowling related; all purchases made through these links help us! Amazon.com and eBay will pay us a small commission for every sale and it's helping us cover the expenses.

BowlingFans.com, BowlingFans, The Right Approach, Kegler's Connection, Tour411, BallBeat, BowlingCommunity.com, BowlSearch.com, and Bowling News You Can Use are trademarks of usrbingeek LLC. All other trademarks and tradenames are property of their respective owners.